Xerxes’ Kids

I know I’ve said before that I never know what size of kid I’m going to get from Xerxes. He is a pretty big buck.

Xerxes Osboer

His dad was a big buck.

Fionn

However, his mom was quite small and fine in her build.

Coffee with Mocha and Java (2012)

I kept him because I thought I’d be more likely to get small kids from him with his mom being sooo small.  But I never know what I’m going to get from him.

Butterscotch and Scooter (from Reva and Xerxes)

This might illustrate the extremes.  Onyx was born last March; Purl was born last June.  They are both Xerxes girls.

Onyx and Purl

They both have big moms.

Hilda (Purl’s maa) and Victoria (Onyx’s maa)

They are the only two girls I kept from Xerxes last year.  Honestly, Onyx is the smallest and Purl is the largest of the girls I kept last year.

2TC (my oopsie girl who came from Tootles); behind her is Joy, another small Xerxes girl.

In the photo below, Coral (10 1/2 years old) is in front; three yearlings are in the middle (2TC, Popcorn, and Purl) and two-year-old Venus and Penelope are in the back.  Purl is a big girl.

I seriously never know what I’m going to get from him.

After Four Days

By Friday morning, I was getting pretty darn good at making a cup of coffee on the stove.

I was doing pretty good at getting my chores done.  The peacocks were pretty good with the routine of waiting for me to bring out a light to go up to roost.  The hardest is the water.  With no electricity to the well house, I have to use rural water.

Butterscotch drinking; Daisy behind

That means going through gates or leaving the milk room door open.  It’s awkward, but it works.

Maisie in front; Venus behind

I’m taking care of mom’s cats for her.  She actually got to come home from the hospital four days after the storm.  While I was visiting her at her house (before she went to stay with my sister where she could be free from the chaos of after-storm life), I got a call from my neighbor.  I went home, and this happened!  Bless them.  They fixed the transformer across the road, and then they set the new pole in my yard.

By some miracle, the underground line just happened to be connected to the meter box.

That means I had electricity to the garage (soap room), and it also goes to the Love Shack and the barn!

No more flashlight to keep them safe!

Bless the electrical workers!  Granted I still have no power to my house, well house, or greenhouse, but I did convert my soap room into a decent living space.

I moved the computer out and was working on editing images.

It has air conditioning and I can cook in there and have hot water for dishes.  It’s been cool enough to still sleep in the house, and at least I am better off than I was.

The coffee pot is the first thing I moved.

And the dog was really happy to get to lounge around in an air conditioned space.

Sky

And my little town still had no electricity, so it also meant I could string cords from the garage to the house and remove myself from needing a generator.

The Genetics of a Cutie Patootie

I just can’t get over how cute Victoria’s little girl is.

Onyx

That might lead to a hard decision because I have vowed never to keep a descendant of Joe’s.  She was a great goat, but her hooves were horrible, and she did pass those genes on to Clover. I don’t want any goat to have to go through that again.

Joe Jo Street (2008 – 2015)

But look at this baby!

She looks like a true combination of her grandma Coffee and her grandpa Flash (Joe’s boy).

Coffee (came to the farm in 2011 – 2015)

Flash Blackboer (2010 – 2011)

It just amazes me that she can look so much like a combination of those two grandparents and doesn’t look like her mom.

She is just cuteness overload!